Executive Director

Michael G. RushPierre,was appointed by the South Dakota Board of Regents to his post in May 2015. Dr. Rush previously was executive director of the Idaho State Board of Education/Board of Regents. He served as that state’s higher education executive officer from 2007 to 2015, supporting a board that governs Idaho’s higher education institutions and also has general supervision over all public education, including community colleges. Prior to his time as executive director of Idaho’s state board, Dr. Rush served as an administrator, director of research, and state supervisor for the Division of Professional-Technical Education, also in Idaho. He has experience as an assistant professor of agricultural and Extension education at The Pennsylvania State University, as an instructor of vocational and technical education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and as a secondary vocational agriculture instructor. Rush is active professionally at the state and national levels, serving on the executive committee for the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) and as chair of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. He also represented United States higher education at three international conferences.